Friday, July 31, 2009

JP and I will be riding out to Platte for some bacon on Sunday morning. The meeting place will be Wohlner's parking lot, Meet around 6:00 am leave 6:10 am. Here's the route . Anyone is welcomed the weather looks perfect we should be back noonish

Thursday, July 30, 2009

YOU...might feel safe in your big ass SUV, but it hardly gives me the same sense of security.

side note...Just heard Dan Patrick say "grown men shouldn't wear bike shorts". I always knew he was a moron. Sport talk radio, it's for meatheads, YAY!And no, I don't really listen to that crap, Paul had it on when I got to the shop, I changed the channel now.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

50 + rims, stripped cranks, a couple of cheap full-suspension frames and chopped kick-stands - We from the shop took this metal and didn't make enough to support our thirst habits. I pitched in to cover two dirty dozens of Pig's Eye (I don't know how it is, but I am sure it's been that Bush Water). All that work for very little. At least it cleaned up the shop a bit.

Keep an eye out for my bicycle - it's kevlar cable was cut and stolen in front of the downtown public library today after 2pm (link)

I think of this collaborative blog as one of the voices of Omaha's diverse cycling community. Given its wide readership and number of people out on the streets cycling, it's my hope that getting this news out quickly to the local community might help Brady get his bike back.

It's easy to spot. It's the color of a yellow UP locomotive, or yellow like a school bus. Also, the little triangle under the seat made by the GT frame where the seat stays join the top tube make the frame easy to recognize.

If you see Old Yeller, call 911. Then call or message Brady.

This theft is so very unlike Omaha. I wonder if, with RAGBRAI, the professional bike thieves are in town.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Barley's Bar is known for its Tuesday night "Barley's to Barley's Ride" where 40-60 riders ride from their Council Bluffs location, across the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, to the Omaha location at the Tip Top.

Saturday, July 18th, a cycling team sponsored by 42 Below Vodka is showing up at the Barely's in Omaha. The Barley's group will ride from Council Bluffs to the Omaha bar to hang out with the 42 Below group and some RAGBRAI teams, before pedaling back over to Council Bluffs for both the Sheryl Crow concert at Stir Cove and the Barenaked Ladies concert at the Mid-America Center. Barely's will also offer its shuttle service to provide some SAG support for people needing a ride that evening. The distance between bars is about eight miles, and runs along trails for most of the ride.

42 Below Vodka is sponsoring two teams to cycle across the US to drum up support for cycling and cycling advocacy. Read more about the 42Ride at http://www.welikebike42.com/

In the words of Barley's manager, Matt Johnson, "it would be an easy way for someone to experience part of RAGBRAI and still sleep in their own bed that night."

Monday, July 13, 2009

Council Bluffs, IA- Every Thursday night, you'll find hundreds of cyclists riding the 10 mile trek from Council Bluffs to the Mineola Steakhouse on the Wabash Trace Trail. But last week, more than 2,000 riders showed up. Many complaints about drunk riders and others using drugs on the trail came into the Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Department. Sgt. Duane Richie says,"There were numerous requests that we be here."

Deputies showed up on the trail on bikes, ATV's and a brand new RTV to enforce the law of open containers. A half mile in, they found a couple of cyclists sipping on a brew. Because many of the riders are unaware of the law, they gave out warnings and asked riders to dump out the beer.

Regulars on the ride say last week's drunken party with thousands of people was not the norm and deputies agree. One rider says, "With that many people and many of them inebriated, there is potential for an accident. But I am not going to let some inexperienced riders spoil my fun."

Deputies say leave the beer at home.

- - - - - - After being at the taco ride the last few weeks, there needs to be some Ride Right Education on proper bicycle behavior and etiquette…Rule #1 is to never stop in the middle of the path.

WOWT reports that at 2:30am, Friday, July 10, an Omaha man was beaten and robbed while cycling on the Keystone Trail near 68th and Q.

Personally, I wouldn't ride any trail during these hours (technically, these trails are operated as "parks" and are subject to hours of operation), but would rather ride the streets. With street riding, there are more eyes out, plus a cyclist has more opportunities for escape routes should the situation turn foul.

Just remember, if you are riding the streets at night, you need lights to see by, and more importantly, to be seen by. It's also the law in Nebraska to have a forward facing white light if you ride at night.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

The Omaha World-Herald reports that the two-lane restriction on the busy Dodge Street corridor could last two weeks. This construction is to repair the subgrade underneath the pavement that was damaged during a water main incident earlier in the year.

An estimated 50,000 motor vehicles pass along this section of Dodge Street each day.

If you've got a bike, and you need to move between midtown and downtown, I think now would be a great time to start riding it. Just watch out for frustrated motorists trying to detour along the auxiliary through routes that cyclists are already using.

The picture to the right (credit, Alyssa Schukar/The World-Herald) shows traffic crawling along in two lanes where there are normally five. Though I am not a proponent of sidewalk riding, I can imagine just how fun it would be to organize a bike ride up and down the sidewalks, passing people multiple times at they take 10 minutes to move 10 blocks between 52nd and 62nd Streets.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Wouldn't it be cool if you could share reports of bike crashes, hazards, and thefts online? You can at Bikewise (http://www.bikewise.org/).

Bikewise is offered as a public service by the Cascade Bicycle Club, based in Seattle, Washington. This online service, leveraging the Google Maps API, offers a place for cyclists all over the world to log bike related incidents including:

bicycle crashes

bicycling hazards

bicycle thefts

Their mission is to begin collecting data that may be of use in trending bicycling issues and providing a method for cyclists to communicate safety issues to public officials.

While the web interface is very useful, I did find a few cases where navigation between certain features is not as intuitive as it should be. Make sure you set you default location (unless you live in Seattle) or you won't see anything on the map.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Whether it’s San Francisco, New York, or any bicyclistic city in between, you’re destined to witness biker after biker dancing with danger, especially at night when visibility is uncomfortably low. Many cars, trucks, and buses, like immature kindergartners, don’t like to share and subsequently choose to ignore bikers’ rights to the road.

In addition to a high price tag, new bike-lane inhibition is promoted by arguments on a legislative level, such as one in San Francisco that accuses the city’s large bicycle population of creating more pollution than automobiles because they supposedly impede the flow of traffic. In spite of these roadblocks, cities across the country are beginning to get the picture, slowly and seemingly reluctantly adding more lanes here and there, but what are cyclists to do in the extended meantime? Alex Tee and Evan Gant’s LightLane device was recently just a concept but is soon to enter reality as a much-needed visual declaration of personal biking space. The two Altitude, Inc. designers know that any amount of panicked shouting or bell-ringing are no match against prevention when it comes to bicycle safety. With a dire shortage of dedicated lanes, LightLane provides urban cyclists with a solution that adapts to them and any route they make take. The compact projector mounts easily to the rear of a bike frame and projects a bike lane-inspired linear pattern that provides great visibility and a familiarity that helps catch a driver’s attention.

Originally presented as a losing design competition entry, LightLane has continued onto a path to production thanks to widespread public interest and encouragement. The patent-pending device features preliminary design specs like high-visibility DPSS (diode-pumped solid state) green lasers, super-bright red LEDs, a 3-hour runtime on its rechargeable lithium-ion battery (but how cool would it be if it was pedal-powerd?!), a universal frame attachment bracket, and compatibility with universal mobile phone charger standards. Although it is currently only in its production engineering stages, LightLane has speedily made the jump from a design concept to a real product-in-progress. Upon its anticipated release, it will most definitely receive an overwhelming welcome by safety-hungry bike riders ready to brave the night.